Johannesburg

Saturday

Heavy rain. Mostly cloudy. Cool.

10°C
17°C

7 day forecasts
Power Crisis

No load shedding for 9 months

2009-01-23 14:19

Special Report

Eskom may seek 34% tariff hike

Eskom is set to seek a 34% hike in electricity tariffs, back from the 88% rise it had been considering due to the global economic slowdown, a newspaper says.

Quick Links

Quick links

Johannesburg - There has been no load shedding since April last year, state-owned electricity company Eskom said on Friday.

"Although we may have had distribution or transmission faults, we've had no load shedding since April 2008," Eskom CEO Jacob Maroga said at a media briefing held in Johannesburg.

Maroga said that last year had been an extremely challenging one for the power utility, but lessons had been learned.

"We learned that we could not put ourselves in a situation where continuous supply is compromised," he said.

Eskom's coal stocks in January 2008 had been equivalent to ten days.

However, over the past eight months, Eskom had been able to improve that figure to 38 days, Maroga said.

"Now none of our power stations have below 20 days of coal stocks - but this comes at a cost - we've had to deal with costs associated with buying short-term coal - but it's a good price to pay for securing electricity supply to the country," he said.

Contribution to economy

Eskom was the biggest consumer of coal produced in South Africa, Maroga added.

This fact, he said, showed Eskom's enormous contribution to the country's economy.

"We have recognised the macroeconomic footprint of Eskom in SA and we must maintain this."

Maroga said that the building of the Medupi power station had contributed enormously to the economy in that it had had a "huge impact" on development in the area from rail and road facilities to housing and sanitation.

Medupi, with a total planned capacity of 4 800 megawatts, would be completed on time, he said.

"Its first unit will be commissioned in the first half of 2012," Maroga said.

- SAPA

inside news24

Weather
Traffic
Lottery
Cpt: 16-23°C Sunny. Mild. Pta: 12-18°C Numerous showers. Breaks of sun late. Cool.
Jhb: 10-17°C Heavy rain. Mostly cloudy. Cool. Bloem: 10-21°C Sprinkles. Morning clouds. Cool.
Dbn: 17-24°C Light rain. Mostly cloudy. Mild. PE: 18-26°C Sunny. Warm.
7 day forecasts...

Jobs - Find your dream job

Sales Consultant

Gauteng - Midrand
Quiglies Solutions
R550,000-700,000 Per Annum Market Related Negotiable

Sales Manager

Western Cape - Cape Town
Quiglies Solutions
R600,000-700,000 Per Annum Market Related Negotiable

Software Developer

Gauteng - Johannesburg
E-Merge IT Recruitment
R500,000 Per Annum

Cars - Search 1000's of new and used cars

AUDI

2008 A4 1.8T Multitronics from R 269 000

BMW

330i Ci Convertible (E46)
2002
R 145,900.00

ISUZU

KB250D LWB Dsl MY94
2009
R 135,900.00

OPEL

Corsa 1.4i Utility
2006
R 90,700.00

Property - Find a new home

VAN RIEBEECKSHOF

Single Residential R2,050,000

DWARSKERSBOS

Single Residential R1,600,000

BRYANSTON

Multiple Unit R2,500,000

Travel - Look, Book, Go!

Free Games - TOO MUCH NEWS? TAKE A BREAK!

Kalahari.net - shop online today

Great Festive Savings on Books

Up to 30% Off ALL Books. 2.3 million titles on SALE.

Sleek New iPod Range. Order Your's Now!

iPod nano 16GB - Black, Was R2,499.00 Now R2,299.00! Save R200!

Up to 40% off Fabulous Festive Flicks

46 000 DVDs and Blu-Ray on sale now! Pre-order Up and District 9!

Up to 20% off ALL Music

100s of festive new releases now in stock! Now, Bump 25, Bon Jovi & more!

1000s of Festive Toys on Sale

Lots of Toys, free gift wrap, lowest prices on Lego Mindstorm, Ben 10, Hannah Montana & more!

Hot Deal of the Day!

All DVDs on Sale

Up to 40% Off 46 000 Titles

District 9, UP, Ice Age, Transformers, Life & more!

Up to 40% Off Sale on All Books, Toys, CDs, DVDs & Games!